Process for recovering vanadium from petroleum hydrocarbons



Patented Aug. 9, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE."

ALFRED OBERLE, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE T THOMASE. SCOFIELD, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

PROCESS FOR RECOVERING VAN ADIUM FROM PETROLEUM H YDROCARBONS.

' No Drawing.

petroleum hydrocarbons, and. refers more particularly to a process inwhich compounds 6 of vanadium are extracted from petroleum products.

v This application is a continuation in part of a previous applicationSerial No. 722,309 filed June 25, 1924.

In myprevious application I described a process for recovering vanadiumfrom pctroleum residue such as petroleum coke and heavy residual oils orcarbonaceous materials such as cokey substances resulting from thecracking of petroleum hydrocarbons. The

present process has to do primarily with a method of extracting vanadiumby consumption of the volatile and oxidizable petroleum products by theaction of heat, the

Vanadium being recovered as an oxide or other vanadium compound bydeposition.

In my prior application, I described the process of leaching thevanadium compounds from the petroleum residue with a vanadium solvent,but where vanadium is desired to be recovered from certain hydrocarbonoils.

whibh are to be burned as fuel as certain of the heavy Mexican, Ohio orl ersian oils, the hydrocarbon products are practically completelyconsumed in the combustion of the oil and to recover the vanadiumcompounds, it is necessary to devise some method of obstructing orretarding the metal compounds by means of a deposit screen or by the useof an absorptive agent such as coke, cinders, activated carbonaceousmaterial, ground or broken up slag, spent shale, diatomaceous earth orother absorptive substances which would serve to extract the vanadiumcompounds may bedissfil'ved from the absorbent material.

In experimenting with hydrocarbons, it

4 has been my experience that the vanadium compounds are usually moreprevalent in the poorer grades of oil, i. e., those oils having a highsulphur content such as the Mexican oils,'particularly Panuco crude,Persian crude and certain of the high sulphur bearing Ohio oils. Theseoils do not make particularl good cracking stock and are, to

a consi rable extent, used as burning oils vanadium compounds from thecombustion gases. Subsequent to this separatign the..-

Application filed September 8, 1925. Serial No. 55,171.

so that the recovery of vanadium compounds is best effected by a theconsumption of pounds which mag process in which during the oil vanadiumcombe carried ofi' mechanically in the form 0 fine particles in thecombustion gases, are arrested and deposited in an absorbent body orupon specially preparedwlre screens or any other type of 0bstructiondevices which effectively prevent the passage of the metallic Vanadiumand a cause the same to be deposited in the'ab'sorbent material to belater recovered by extraction with a solvent.

An absorbent material is used with the best effect by being interposedin the form of a tower in the path of the combustion gases so that thegases are directed through the tower and through the absorbent materialin their travel to phere.

Where oils containing vanadium are used in internal combustion engines,such as heavy types of Diesel engines, any vanadium content may berecovered from the exhaust gases by interposing an absorbent body ofactivated carbon coke or other relatively inert absorbent materials inthe exhaust line. The vanadium is normally deposited as a vanadium oxidewhich is easily dissolved from the absorbent material with a propersolvent.

-Among other absorptive materials which have been found effective in therecovery of this' material are kaolins, such as bauxite,

'- and colloidal clays, including bentonite and metallic vanadium. whichmay be extracted in a relatively pure state by imply exhausting thehydrocarbon materials from the oil by 'cmnbustion and extracting themetallic vanadium by deposition of the metallic compounds in anabsorbent body and subsequently dissolving the metallic compound fromthe absorbent material.

I claim as my invention:

1. A process for recovering vanadium from petroleum hydrocarbons,consisting in exhausting hydrocarbon products by combustion andcollecting the deposited vanadium compounds in an absorptive material.

2. A process for. recovering vanadium from petroleum hydrocarbons,consisting in exhausting hydrocarbon products by combustion andcollecting the deposited vanadium compounds in an absorptive materialand extracting the vanadium compounds 5 therefrom.

3. A process for recovering vanadium from petroleum hydrocarbons,conslstlng in from the absorptive material with a solvent.

' ALFRED OBER-LE.

